Suburban elected officials and owners of a local gun shop listened to public concern — and a lawsuit — about straw gun purchases in their community. They worked together on an ordinance aimed at curbing the practice. As a result:

A new ordinance in west suburban Lyons, written with input from the town's only gun shop, Midwest Sporting Goods, is a rare case of compromise on the hot-button issue of gun rights. Other municipalities with gun stores, pay attention. Just because towns and gun shops don't have to work harder to promote public safety doesn't mean they shouldn't.

The ordinance discourages straw purchases — buying weapons legally and then selling them to others who are not legal buyers.

Midwest Sporting Goods will now keep electronic records of anyone buying more than one weapon in a 12-month period. The store will notify the Lyons Police Department within 48 hours of a buyer who tried to make a purchase but was denied because he or she appeared to be straw buying. The shop also will keep a "do not sell" list of buyers whose weapons are later connected to a crime. Employees of the shop will hold valid firearm owner's identification cards themselves and will be trained to flag what appear to be illegal purchases.

There's more, but that's a lot of compromise, especially in a culture where the liberal gun-buying agenda of the National Rifle Association often shapes gun shop practices. If it were up to the NRA, there would be fewer limits on buying weapons, not more.

The owners of Midwest Sporting Goods in a statement said they "look forward to cooperating fully with the Lyons Police Department and all enforcement agencies to identify, report and ferret out any improprieties relating to firearms. We welcome all lawful purchasers of sporting good to our business. We warn any persons who do not intend to follow all lawful procedures to stay away."

That should be the message of every weapons dealer to straw buyers: Stay away.

Nothing in the ordinance restricts the ability of law-abiding, FOID card-carrying citizens from buying guns at the shop, which also houses a shooting range.

The discussions between the town and the store grew out of a lawsuit filed in July. The Coalition for Safe Chicago Communities, which includes activist priest the Rev. Michael Pfleger, sued three suburbs, including Lyons, claiming the towns were violating the Illinois Civil Rights Act by not cracking down on gun sales. The villages of Lincolnwood and Riverdale were also named.

The lawsuit is based in part on a 2012 Chicago Police Department study that traced 17,230 guns recovered on Chicago streets, 29 percent of which had been purchased at suburban gun stores. The research concluded that the high number of guns from the suburbs ending up in Chicago was likely the result of illegal straw purchases.

Two years ago, the Tribune wrote about Darlene Hoover of Chicago. She was sentenced to prison for buying guns for a friend, who happened to be a felon. He later committed a crime with one of the weapons, and it was traced to the store and to Hoover's purchase. She was a single mother who had no criminal record. She didn't realize she had committed a serious crime. She was sentenced to prison.